Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved to collect flowers and dry them. Of course, when I was a child, we dried flowers the old-fashioned way – between the pages of a book or by air. Although I still dry flowers and herbs by air, I recently found the Microfleur Flower Press, a new-fangled contraption that quickly dries flowers in the microwave. I decided to make mementos, dried flower bookmarks, to help me remember special times outdoors.
The press came in especially handy when my granddaughters wanted to dry flowers and only could be around for a few days. It takes about a minute of short cooking bursts, depending on the wattage of your microwave, to get the job done. Thankfully, unlike so many gizmos ordered on the internet, this device comes with understandable instructions!
Since I have a laminating machine, I wanted to use it to save some flowers and lavender for bookmarks. These bookmarks would make excellent Mother’s Day gifts. I found – again at every rural woman’s friend, Amazon – these bookmark pouches that you can fill with either dried flowers or artwork. Then, you run the pouch through your own laminating machine, creating a finished bookmark.
Here are the materials you’ll need for this project:
Dried flowers or artwork – I used little wild flowers that I found while shed hunting recently with my husband.
Microfleur flower press (5-inch model is $29.99)
Bookmarks ($16.94)
Laminating machine (your choice)
After you dry the flowers, tuck a few in an artistic way into the bookmark. I love the look of a clear bookmark, allowing the pressed items to be viewed from both sides. However, if you prefer a more solid look, insert colored card inside the pouch first. This creates a background for your keepsakes. Run through the laminating machine. Let cool, and voila! You’ve made a bookmark.
Seriously, you may be thinking … who would ever use a real bookmark? Surely you have a book or 2 that you want to keep, that you might refer to occasionally, and that could use a bookmark tucked in place? The added benefit is this: if it’s a lovely bookmark that brings back a memory – such as a day picking daffodils at an old cabin site with granddaughters or a day cutting lavender at a farm in the Ozarks with a sister – then, it’s even more special to find it in a book.
Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird
